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This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transittrain systems worldwide. In some cases, metro systems are referred to as subways, U-Bahns or undergrounds. As of December 2017[update], 178 cities[1] in 56 countries around the world host the approximately 180 metro systems that are listed here. The London Underground first opened as an "underground railway" in 1863 and its first electrified underground line opened in 1890,[2] making it the world's first metro system.[3] The metro system with the longest route length is the Shanghai Metro;[1][4] the busiest one is the Beijing Subway;[5][4] and the one with the most stations is the New York City Subway.[4]

Considerations

The International Association of Public Transport (L'Union Internationale des Transports Publics, or UITP) defines metro systems as urban passenger transport systems, "operated on their own right of way and segregated from general road and pedestrian traffic".[6][7] The terms Heavy rail (mainly in North America) and heavy urban rail are essentially synonymous with the term "metro".[8][9][10] Heavy rail systems are also specifically defined as an "electric railway".[8][9]

The name of the system is not a criterion for inclusion or exclusion. Some cities use metro as a brand name for a transit line with no component of rapid transit whatsoever. Similarly, there are systems branded light rail that meet every criterion for being a rapid transit system. Some systems also incorporate light metro or light rail lines as part of the larger system under a common name. These are listed, but the light rail lines are not counted in the provided network data. Certain transit networks may match the service standards of metro systems, but reach far out of the city and are sometimes known as S-Bahn, suburban, regional or commuter rail. These are not included in this list. Neither are funicular systems, or people movers, such as amusement park, ski resort and airport transport systems.

This list counts metros separately when multiple metros in one city or metropolitan area have separate owners or operating companies. This list expressly does not aim at representing the size and scope of the total rapid transit network of a certain city or metropolitan area. The data of this list should not be used to infer the size of a city's, region's, or country's urban rail transit systems, or to establish a ranking. Doing so would in many cases lead to a gross misrepresentation.

Legend

The most common English name of the metro system (and the connecting article for that system).

Year opened

The year the metro system was opened for commercial service at metro standards. In other words, parts of the system may be older, but as parts of a former light rail or commuter rail network, so the year that the system obtained metro standards (e.g. electrified) is the one listed.

Year of last expansion

The last time the metro system was expanded in terms of the system length or number of stations.

Stations

The number of stations in the metro network, with stations connected by transfer counted as one.

The number of unique journeys on the metro system every year. There is a major discrepancy between the ridership figures: some metro systems count transferring between lines as multiple journeys, but others do not.

List

This list is sortable. Click on the icon in the column header to change sort key and sort order.

Under construction

The following is a list of new worldwide metro systems that are currently actively under construction. Note that in some cases it is not clear if the system will be considered a full metro system once it begins operational service.

Notes

System notes

^Line H of the Buenos Aires Underground had its last expansions in May 2018

^Vienna's Metropolitan Railway (Wiener Stadtbahn) first opened for service in 1898, operating steam locomotive trains on mostly elevated or underground ROWs. From 1976 onwards, part of it was integrated into the newly established Vienna U-Bahn system (lines U4 and U6), operating as a modern metro.

^The Beijing Subway's first line began trial operations on 1 October 1969. It opened to revenue service under trial operations on 15 January 1971. Initially, only members of the public with credential letters from their work units could purchase tickets, but this restriction was removed on 27 December 1972. The subway line passed its final inspections and ended trial operations on 15 September 1981. During the trial operations period, annual ridership rose from 8.28 million in 1971 to 55.2 million in 1980. See the history section of the Beijing Subway for details and references.

^The number is 311 for unique operational subway stations (i.e. different sets of platforms), or 364 if operational stations are counted multiple times for each line. Both counts excludes the stations of the Xijiao LRT Line.[57]

^The first MTR route to offer metro service was the Modified Initial System in 1979, which consists of portions of the later Tsuen Wan Line and Kwun Tong Line. Though the eventual East Rail Line opened as a conventional railway in 1910, it did not offer metro service until at least in 1982 when it was electrified.

^This figure excludes Maglev line and Jinshan Railway, both often included in Shanghai Metro maps but not considered part of the system.

^As of December 2017,[update] the number is 393 if the 52 interchange stations (i.e. different sets of platforms) are counted multiple times, once for each line, while it's 324 if they're combined; shared tracks/platforms on Lines 3 and 4 are anyway counted as a single stations (nine in all between Hongqiao Road and Baoshan Road).

^The Green Line (Line 1), operated until 2011 by Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways, was opened in 1869 as a steam train railway line. It was electrified in 1904, extended with underground sections through the city in 1948, and extended to its full length to Kifissia in 1957 using the right-of-way of a former metre gauge suburban line. Full metro operation since 1904 between Piraeus and Athens and 1957 to Kifissia. In 2011, it was integrated with Athens Metro under the company STASY S.A.[140]

^As of November 2018,[update] the number is 231 if the 21 interchange stations (i.e. different sets of platforms) are counted multiple times, once for each line, while it is 209, including the six stations on the Delhi Airport Metro Express line, if they are combined; Ashok Park Main station, where the two diverging branches of Line 5 share tracks/platforms, is anyway counted as a single station.[155][156]

^As of October 2018,[update] the number is 113 if the 7 interchange stations (i.e. different sets of platforms) are counted multiple times, once for each line, while it is 106 if they are combined.[184][185]

^Naples Metro is made up of Line 1 and Line 6 only. Line 2 is a commuter rail line.

^ abcdefghijIn general, the majority of urban rail service in Japanese metropolitan areas is provided by systems not included in this list. For a complete list of urban rail systems in Japan, see List of urban rail systems in Japan.

^As of October 2018,[update] the number is 106 if the 7 interchange stations (i.e. different sets of platforms) are counted multiple times, once for each line, while it is 99 if they are combined; Higashi-nihombashi station and Bakuro-yokoyama station, where an out-of-system transfer between Asakusa Line and Shinjuku Line is possible, are anyway counted as two stations.[203][204][205]

^The Seoul Subway (Lines 1-9) is actually operated by two different operators - Seoul Metro and Seoul Metro Line 9 Corporation (SLM9), plus the through-operation by Korail - but because all of these lines are owned by the City Government of Seoul, here in the table they're counted together as one system.

^ abcSeoul's Metropolitan Subway system can also be viewed as a comprehensive metro network made up of multiple owned/operated metro systems. If viewed as such, the combined route length of Seoul's comprehensive metro-standards network would be 495.8 km (308.1 mi), and it would serve a grand total of 400 stations.

^The Lausanne Metro has two lines: Line M1 is light rail, while Line M2 is rapid transit. The stats listed are for Line M2 only.

^As of May 2018,[update] the number is 117 if the 9 interchange stations (i.e. different sets of platforms) are counted multiple times, once for each line, while it's 108 if they're combined; transfer stations that provide cross-platform interchange are anyway counted as a single stations (four in all: Ximen, CKS Memorial Hall, Guting and Dongmen stations).

^Currently operational metro standards lines, M1-M5 and M6, only included. All other Istanbul lines or segments are either tram or commuter rail, or are under construction, and so are not included here.

^London's Metropolitan Railway first opened for service in 1863, operating steam locomotive trains in cut and cover tunnels. It began operating as a modern metro when electric-propulsion trains began operating on the system's first deep-level tube line in 1890.

^This figure comes from the sum of the following figures from the accompanying reference (i.e. "Facts at a Glance". Chicago Transit Authority. December 2012. Retrieved .): 35.8 miles of elevated route, 35.0 miles at grade level, 20.6 miles on embankments, and 11.4 miles of subway.

^This was the date of the last extension to the Red Line in the rapid transit portion of Los Angeles' Metro Rail.

^First regular elevated railway service, originally cable hauled, began in 1868. Elevateds converted to steam power in 1870, electrified by 1903. The first section of electrified subway opened in 1904.

^The number is 424 if interchange stations (i.e. different sets of platforms) are counted as one station, or 472 if all stations on all lines are counted multiple times for each line.[304]

^While the line opened as a railroad in 1860, it was not until 1925 that rapid transit equipment would be operated here.

^Manhattan Transfer and Park Place stations opened in 1911, though these stations were closed and replaced with Harrison and Newark stations, respectively, in 1937.

^The opening of the Bridge Line, the precursor rapid transit line to PATCO's, which ran between 8th Street in Philadelphia and Broadway in Camden. The current PATCO Speedline, with service through to Lindenwold, opened in 1969.

^This ridership figure is the sum of the "Heavy Rail (HR)" and "Intermediate Rail (IR)" figures for Toronto from the APTA Ridership report - in other words, this figure includes ridership on the Line 3 Scarborough (RT) line which APTA considers to be "Intermediate Rail (IR)".

^ abcdefghijklmCompared to European or North American systems, Japanese rapid transit systems are generally neither thought of as metros nor as completely subterranean "subways" complicating whether only using the municipal subway statistic is accurate when comparing with other Metros around the world. As example Tokyo Metro and the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation's Toei Subway constitute only 22% of the 14.6 billion metropolitan railway ridership in Greater Tokyo (MLIT Yearly Statistics). In addition, when one considers intracity lines of JR East and private railway companies, Greater Tokyo (130 lines) has higher daily ridership than any other metropolitan area in the world with 14.6 billion passengers annually. The Osaka Municipal Subway also has only a minority share of all metropolitan railway ridership in Greater Osaka, constituting only 17.6% of Greater Osaka's 4.745 billion rail passengers annually in 2010. Including the municipal subway systems in both Kobe and Kyoto, the result still only comprises 22% of all rail travel in the Greater Osaka area with 1065.8 million passengers yearly (MLIT Yearly Statistics). For Greater Nagoya, the Nagoya Municipal Subway has only a minority share of all metropolitan railway ridership in Greater Nagoya constituting only 38% of Greater Nagoya's 1.095 billion rail passengers annually in 2010 (MLIT Yearly Statistics). For a complete list of urban rail systems in Japan with ridership statistics, see List of urban rail systems in Japan.

^This figure counts only gate-passers, so it only includes Seoul Metro and Seoul Subway Line 9 riders. Other lines that function as separate systems within the greater Seoul urban rail network are excluded.

^ abRidership is based on unlinked passenger trips (i.e. a transfer between two lines counts as two trips, transferring between three lines counts as three trips, etc.).

^This ridership figure is the sum of the total annual trips (?, boarding and transfer passengers) on the five lines (Gwacheon/Ansan, Bundang, Ilsan and Suin) from the accompanying reference. Overall, Korail metro/commuter lines in Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMESRS) carry 1,166 million passengers annually (2017).

^This ridership figure is the sum of the total annual trips (?, boarding and transfer passengers) on the two sections (Phase 1 and Phase 2) of the line, from the accompanying reference.

^"Historical Data". STASY S.A. 1 August 2013. Retrieved . The Athens Metro incorporates the steam-powered Athens-Piraeus Railway (SAP, now Line 1), which opened on 27 February 1869. The railway's first tunnel section, between Monastiraki and Omonoia, opened on 17 May 1895, and SAP completed the electrification of the line on 16 September 1904.

^ abAs for the size the system reached by the end of 2016, see "Basic data 2017"(pdf). Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB). Retrieved . The Montjuïc Funicular, despite being considered to be part of the metro system, is excluded.

^"Afluencia de Estación por Línea 2016" [Station Inflows by Line] (in Spanish). Metro de la Ciudad de Mexico. 2016. Retrieved . Annual total obtained by subtracting the number of line A passengers who no longer pay an extra ticket when changing trains at Pantitlan station from the gross total.